Calendar

Join us as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the first class of women explorers! The Pathfinders symposium, co-chaired by Milbry Polk & Elizabeth Weidner alongside Honorary Chair Faanya Rose, is the culmination of a year-long effort highlighting incredible women in exploration – past, present, and future. This two-day symposium, supported by Tory Sport, will feature 10 panels highlighting the work and achievements of Explorers Club women carving the path in exploration and discovery.

9:00 AM — 9:25 AM

Session 5: Introduction of New Members

After a morning introduction from Honorary Symposium Chair Faanya Rose, Explorers Club Vice President for Membership Nancy Nenow will introduce a brand new class of 16 women members – in honor of the first class of women explorers inducted into the club in 1981.

9:30 AM — 11:00 AM

Session 6: Far Reaches

Embedded in the definition of exploration is the will to push ourselves to the far reaches of this planet, and to the far reaches of our capabilities and imagination. In this panel, four women embody this intertwined concept of exploration through their journeys across mountain ranges, over ice-ridden sea routes, down into active volcanoes and deep into underground lakes

Latonia Hartery — Host
Kristin Gates
Ulla Lohmann
Vickie Siegel

11:30 AM — 1:00 PM

Session 7: Women of the Deep

Women of the Explorers Club who are exploring the ocean from top to bottom, and shore to shore, will share their stories about their lives researching our blue planet and what they have discovered about the sea around us, and themselves, as women in ocean exploration.

Martha Shaw — Host
Aulani Wilhelm
Meaghan Brosnan
Mara G. Haseltine
Elizabeth Weidner
Cynthia Matzke

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM

Session 8: Where the Wild Things Are

Our search for aliveness leads us time again to animals, to the wild, to our origins in nature. As our natural places are extinguished, as our kin suffer, our own sense of rootedness and wholeness has diminished. More than ever, we must turn to animals and the wild, to find our way back through strength, integrity and courage to the mystery of being one species among millions, acting in accord with the land. We must ask ourselves: how can we protect the wild and what is wild within us? Meet explorers who have worked bravely to rewild the earth, to care for wildlife, to engage and embolden youth as protectors, who have investigated what it means to belong with the wild defending it as one would their beloved. What makes them successful in their endeavors? How have they persevered amid the sorrow of so much loss of nature?

Cayte Bosler — Host
Kris Tompkins
Gabriela Zoneshine
Callie Broaduss

3:30 PM — 5:00 PM

Session 9: Sacred Journeys

Everything has the potential to become sacred — a temple, a stone, the night sky, a towering tree — and opportunities abound to experience their mystery and power. Meet explorers who have investigated centuries-old oracles, shamans and traditional healers, cliffside shrines, mystical ceremonies, and miracles at the water’s edge. What made their journeys sacred, and how are their discoveries impacting their own lives and our world?

Catherine Nixon Cooke — Host
Amy Greeson
Susan Grimaldi
Phyllis Hischier
Deana Weibel

5:15 PM — 6:45 PM

Session 10: Creatively Healing the Planet

From climate change, to extreme storms and water shortages, we earth beings face an epic challenge to come together to push for new stories and technologies to heal our planet. From a media celebrity using education to reach the next generation about the wonder of our ocean sea life, to a Seed Huntress saving our plant heritage, to a pioneer saving our most ancient forests, to scaling investment in locally grown food to a medical doctor with innovation in modern medicine, our panel seeks to paint a broad landscape of ways we can come together to creatively heal our shared Mother Earth